


Friends and Hiding Places

by purajobot935



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Brotherly Love, Camaraderie, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Inspired by Music, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Sibling Bonding, Sleep Deprivation, Song Lyrics, Special Ops, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-31
Updated: 2014-01-31
Packaged: 2018-01-10 16:43:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1162083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purajobot935/pseuds/purajobot935
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steeljaw loves all his brothers dearly, but sometimes there are moments when he wants to eviscerate one of them... especially when he's exhausted and all he wants to do is take a nap. What's a cat to do, really?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends and Hiding Places

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published: April 2008
> 
> A friend and I were having dinner one night and they started playing the song featured in this fic. Friend and I looked at each other and pretty much laughed ourselves silly since we were talking about TFs around the same time, which eventually led to the concept for this fic... best to listen to the song as you read it.

**Friends And Hiding Places**

Dawn was just breaking, and the lightening sky towards the east cast a rose glow upon the lonely stretch of highway that was broken now and then by a pair of twin yellow beams shining from the headlights of a passing vehicle. One of these just happened to be a red 18-wheeler semi-truck with a most unusual passenger.

Optimus Prime rolled down his windows to let the cool, fresh, early morning air fill his cab, and hopefully revive the drooping spirit of his exhausted companion. Steeljaw, the metallic golden lion curled up on his passenger seat sensed the change in temperature almost immediately, and sat up on his haunches. He turned his nose to the crisp air blowing in and let his vents open, sighing in contentment as the wind cooled his internal systems.

“Feeling better?” the Autobot Commander asked.

“A little,” Steeljaw replied. “And thank you for the ride.”

Prime had picked up the little cassette tracker not long ago, after spotting him trudging along the side of the road. He’d mentioned something about picking up a possible Decepticon energy signature and had gone to investigate it, eventually rooting out Buzzsaw spying on a group of human researchers.

A brief tussle had followed, with Steeljaw sending the buzzard packing, and the humans had been none the wiser to it. Now all he wanted to do was curl up somewhere and sleep and let his self-repair take care of a nasty but light scratch on his shoulder, a parting gift from the Decepticon’s claws.

“You’re welcome, Steeljaw,” Prime said. “And a very good job done with Buzzsaw.”

“Thank you,” Steeljaw said again. “It was no trouble at all.”

“Did you happen to find out what the humans were researching at that hour of night?”

“I believe the nocturnal feeding and mating habits of a certain moth species. They did manage to collect a few pupae specimens. Buzzsaw probably thought they were harvesting an energy source, but then, he’s not exactly the brightest cassette in Soundwave’s deck.”

“I see,” Prime replied with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. “Do you know where the humans were from, by any chance?”

“Pine Grove Community College,” Steeljaw replied without hesitation.

“You’re sure of this?”

“The college campus is surrounded by pines. They were covered in coniferous scent, undetectable to humans and most Autobots maybe, but I could smell it. It was quite out of place with the environment they were in.”

Impressive, Prime thought, and thorough, too. So it came as little wonder why Hound and Jazz liked to work with the cassette. He never missed even the smallest detail if his senses could pick it up.

“Then perhaps I’d better speak to the Dean later and tell him to caution his biology department about conducting nocturnal research with no guard.”

“Or offer to send Hound next time,” Steeljaw suggested.

“Not a bad idea. I’ll talk to Prowl about it.”

At this point, Steeljaw stood up on the seat and pressed his nose to the front windshield. “Sun’s rising.”

Prime revved his engine and picked up speed, wanting to get back to the Ark before it got too hot. “It’s fine with me if you want to put your head out of the window. The road’s clear ahead and behind.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Steeljaw placed his front paws on the armrest, then leaned his head and shoulders out of the window, enjoying the breeze as it rushed past him, easing the sting in his shoulder and clearing his olfactory senses of the remnants of the previous night’s scents.

Directly above the sky was still a grey-blue and tiny stars still twinkled around a pale sickle moon, but ahead of them, the rising sun colored the horizon a soft gold. It was a beautiful sight, and Steeljaw wondered how humans could sleep through such a thing.

A mile or two later Prime started to slow and pulled off the highway and onto a narrow dirt track that eventually brought them back to the Ark. Once he came to a stop and opened his door, Steeljaw hopped out with a word of thanks and headed over to the shade of his favorite tree where he curled up to sleep. Prime transformed and watched him a moment, before heading inside contemplating a nap of his own.

Perhaps half an hour had passed before Steeljaw found himself roused by an unholy cry. He sprang to his feet thinking someone was attacking, but only found his brother Eject standing nearby, and he seemed to be playing music of sort.

_In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight  
In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight_

_Oooooo weeeeee…_

“What in the Pits is that?” Steeljaw growled.

“Great song, huh?” Eject asked. “It’s a crowd favorite!”

“Your crowd maybe, now go away. I’ve had a long night and I’m trying to sleep.”

_In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight_

“Do you mind?!” Steeljaw snarled.

“And the crowd goes wild!” Eject grinned. “Oooh weeee…”

Steeljaw flashed his claws. “I’ll show you wild in a moment if you don’t leave me alone.”

_Ooooo weeeee…_

“Oh for Primus’ sake, Eject!”

Steeljaw bounded past him and ran into the Ark, looking for a suitable place quiet enough that he could recharge. Somewhere his brother wouldn’t find him.

Eject was in one of those moods where he’d found something so thoroughly amusing that he wouldn’t stop until all three of his siblings were driven to madness. Judging by the absence of Rewind and Ramhorn, the two of them had already reached their breaking point and had already found somewhere to hide where Eject couldn’t find them.

Stopping only a moment to pick up his other two brothers’ scents, he detected Rewind inside one of Perceptor’s desk drawers in cassette mode, while Ramhorn’s scent indicated he was outside the Ark in the company of the Twins. However, Steeljaw was in no mood for rough-housing with warriors or staying cooped up in cassette form inside a cramped little box. He just wanted rest.

Deciding on a location, he quickly ducked into the lounge, hoping that the large number of mechs inside who’d just woken up would be enough to deter his maniacal brother and he wouldn’t risk their wrath by playing some annoying song right in their midst.

As he expected no one really took notice of him as he slipped in silently and stretched out in a corner behind a couch. Peace at last, he thought as he let his systems power down. The chatter of the other Autobots started to lull him to sleep and Steeljaw finally felt his body relax.

_Oooooo weeeeee…_

Steeljaw’s optics came on blazing. Sibling bonds be fragged, he was going to rip that little nuisance apart!

_In the village, the peaceful village, the lion sleeps tonight  
In the village, the quiet village, the lion sleeps tonight_

Some mechs were actually found the whole thing amusing. Steeljaw willed himself to stay quiet hoping that maybe Eject wouldn’t find him here and go away.

“Your brother? Oh, I saw him go behind the couch over there,” Bluestreak said in all innocence.

Growling loudly, the lion darted out of his hiding place and ran for the door. The last thing he needed was for that idiot to catch up to him. Turning a corner, he ran down the hallway as fast as his legs would carry him, stopping only when his injured shoulder started to ache again.

He would not go to Ratchet. Going meant confinement to the medbay or their quarters where that lunatic could find him and torture his audio receptors off. No, there had to be some place else he could go where he’d be safe to pass out in peace, because neither did he fancy Ratchet stumbling over his offline form in the middle of a hallway.

So it was that he happened to pass by the conference room where the three Special Operations agents liked to hang out and go over mission plans. He’d been in there a few times himself, since eventhough he wasn’t a fully-fledged Special Ops agent he did join them on missions once in a while when they needed an extra member, and he liked them well enough.

He popped his head in and sure enough found the three of them there. They didn’t seem to be going over any mission plans, so Steeljaw saw no reason not to creep inside. Jazz was reclined in his chair and listening to music judging from the way his foot moved, Bumblebee was playing a game-chip, and Mirage was reading. None of them looked like they’d seen him enter, but he knew better than to think that.

Steeljaw laid himself down on the floor between where Mirage and Jazz sat, and once more tried to power himself down so he could recharge. He felt Jazz give him a gentle pat on the head, and Mirage’s fingers rub down his back, and purred his thanks. Maybe now he’d finally get some sleep.

_Oooooo weeeeee…_

Oh Primus, no…

Steeljaw let out a groan and growled deep in his vocalizer. Please don’t let him come in here, especially where there was nowhere to hide; but the song came closer and closer…

_Hush my darling, don’t fear my darling, the lion sleeps tonight  
Hush my darling, don’t fear my darling, the lion sleeps tonight_

Beside him he heard Jazz shift, and dared to hope they wouldn’t give him away.

“Mirage, your cloak,” Jazz said.

“I’m on it, Jazz.” Steeljaw felt Mirage crouch beside him and place a hand on his body. “Hold very still, Steeljaw. This wont hurt a bit.”

The cassette felt a shift in the air and powering up his optics, looked up and saw Mirage as clear as crystal, though everything else appeared unfocused – as though he was looking through a few layers of glass. What on Earth was going on?

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“Hush,” Mirage whispered. “You’re inside my invisibility field. It’s hiding you, but if you break contact with me, you’ll be seen.” His fingers searched out a few sensors along the lion’s neck and applied pressure. “Don’t worry about Eject. Jazz and Bumblebee will take care of him. You go ahead and rest.”

Through a drowsy haze of sleep Steeljaw could just about hear Bumblebee telling Eject that if he couldn’t see him then his brother wasn’t in the room, and to check elsewhere, while Jazz smiled that lazy sort of smile that just about assured the little cassette that if he pushed the matter further… well… Jazz had much bigger speakers.

It must have worked, because the last thing Steeljaw heard as he drifted off to sleep was the sound of his brother’s footsteps – and that accursed song – fading away.

Ah, peace at last…

… Once Eject had gone, Mirage de-cloaked and stepped away from Steeljaw after making sure the lion was deeply asleep. Jazz crouched by the spy and gave the cassette a nudge. Steeljaw didn’t move save for a slight twitch of his tail. He glanced at Mirage.

“Knocked him out,” Mirage said. “Didn’t take much since he was already exhausted, just needed a little pressure on the right sensor. He’ll come out of it on his own, feeling no worse off.”

Jazz smirked. “Couldn’t have done better myself. Bee, help Raj get him onto the couch. Let’s see if I can't fix that scratch on his shoulder.”

The two did as he asked, carefully carrying Steeljaw over and laying him down on the couch while Jazz summoned a few tools before crouching beside the lion again. While he worked to patch and seal off shorn wiring and circuitry, Bumblebee went out to get some energon and let Blaster know Steeljaw was safe.

Reaching the lounge he found Eject inside talking to Smokescreen about laying down a bet on a game later that night. Ambling over nonchalantly to the dispenser, the Minibot tuned his audio receptors into their conversation. Listening in while he filled a couple of cubes, he smirked. Jazz could do a lot with that information, if Steeljaw was up to it – and Bumblebee had a very strong feeling he would be.

=====

Steeljaw woke some time during the late afternoon feeling a good deal better than he had been when he’d come in. The first thing he noticed was that his shoulder had stopped aching, and glancing at it he saw evidence of a recent patch job. A sniff of the area told him it was Jazz’s work, and he remembered that the saboteur was qualified to do such minor repairs without needing Ratchet’s approval.

The next thing he noticed was that he was lying on a couch, and there was a cube of energon placed on the table beside it for him. Grateful for whoever had done it, he leaned over and drank till the cube was empty. Then he hopped off the couch and looked around the room, strongly devoid of its previous occupants.

Figuring they must all be on duty about now, he was about to head out himself when the door opened and Jazz walked in.

“Heya buddy, feelin’ better?” he asked.

“Yes, and thank you for fixing my shoulder,” Steeljaw replied. “Though, how did you manage to do that without waking me up?”

“Oh, Mirage has a few tricks,” Jazz’s visor glinted playfully – a sign Steeljaw had taken to mean he had mischief in mind. “Speakin’ of tricks.”

The lion knew that Jazz was just as notorious a prankster as Sideswipe was, and the only reason most others seemed not to notice this was because Jazz was simply a lot better at not getting caught.

“Would you happen to have one in mind?” Steeljaw asked, knowing full well that he did.

Jazz went over to a file cabinet, opened a drawer, and rummaged through its contents. “Well yeah, I did, but I wanted to run it by you first. I mean, Eject’s your brother an’ all…”

“It’s fine by me,” Steeljaw replied matter-of-factly.

The saboteur found what he was looking for and closed the cabinet. “Bee happened to find out that Eject’s got some money riding on tonight’s baseball game. Doubtless, he’s gotta be lookin’ forward t’watchin’ it.”

“Doubtless.”

“Mirage’ll be on communications duty later. See, he’s got access to all these communications wavelengths, including those for all the sports channels. Problem is, he ain’t very good at figurin’ out how to run them all, so I’ve arranged for you to pop by and show him a few things. You might miss the game, ‘cause his shift starts about ten minutes before the game does, but can't risk security for a game.”

“Oh no, we couldn’t do that at all,” Steeljaw’s optics glinted, too. “After all, what if there’s someone out there trying to call for help?”

“True true. Oh, hey, mind helpin’ me pass this to ‘Raj when ya see ‘im later?” Jazz passed him a video tape. “He was lookin’ for that.”

Steeljaw subspaced it with a grin. “I’ll see that he gets it.”

=====

That evening, Eject bounded into the rec room with a cube of energon and took his seat in front of the TV, thankful this once that his shift had been uneventful so he could end on time and make it to the lounge in time for the game. He had a good amount of money riding on the outcome, so he wanted to catch every moment of it. All but bouncing in anticipation, he switched on the TV and set it to his favorite sports channel, then leaned back to enjoy it.

_Till we find our place, on the path unwinding  
In the circle, the circle of life_

Eject bolted out of his seat as if he’d just been fired from Megatron’s fusion cannon. That wasn’t right at all, maybe he’d tuned to the wrong channel in his excitement. Quickly he clicked the remote control to the right channel.

_In the circle of life  
It’s the wheel of fortune…_

Okay, maybe someone had accidentally reprogrammed that channel. No worries, there were at least four other sports channels that were also telecasting the game. Eject clicked to the next one.

_It’s the leap of faith, it’s a band of hope_

And the next one…

_Till we find our place, on the path unwinding_

And the last one…

_In the circle… the circle of life._

The cassette stared at the TV in horror and dismay. Every single sports channel had been taken over by… by a cartoon!

It was at this point that Bumblebee and Hound walked in after their evening patrol. Hound’s optics ticked to the screen and he pretty much beamed in happiness as he went over and sat down to watch.

“I didn’t know they were showing ‘The Lion King’ today,” he remarked. “It’s one of my favorites!”

Eject looked like he was about to cry. Bumblebee went over and patted a shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said. “They’ll always re-telecast it, and we’ll declare your bet with Smokescreen void and donate the money to charity.”

Eject dropped to his knees with a scream. “NOOOOO!!!”

=====

Outside the Ark, the setting sun threw warm, golden beams of light into the rosy, dappled, western sky that intertwined with the cool, dark blue clouds of the on-coming night. In the east, the stars twinkled and danced around a brightly glowing crescent moon that scattered silvery slivers of light down on the landscape below it.

Steeljaw rested on his belly, forepaws stretched out in front of him and leaning partly against one of Jazz’s out-stretched legs. The pair sat together on a flat rock a little way above the Ark’s entrance, watching as the colors grew and faded in the aky overhead. It was a beautiful sight.

“Think Eject’s enjoying the movie we set up for him?” Jazz asked, running a hand down Steeljaw’s back.

The lion purred. “About as much as Tracks enjoys mud baths, I’m sure.”

Jazz chuckled. “Decided where you’re gonna donate the money?”

“I think I’d like to give it to an African wildlife conservation fund.”

“That ain’t such a bad idea. Hound could probably set ya up.”

“Hmm, yes. I think I’ll talk to him later, once I get the money from Eject.”

Steeljaw settled down further, resting his head on his paws, soothed by the warmth of Jazz’s leg and the balmy breeze that wafted around the volcano. Jazz patted his flank gently and smiled a bit as he started to sing softly. Steeljaw picked up snatches of the song and chuckled.

“Hush m’darlin’, don’t fear m’darlin’, the lion sleeps tonight  
Hush m’darlin’, c’mere m’darlin’, the lion sleeps tonight.”

At least Jazz made it sound good, Steeljaw thought as he pillowed his head on the saboteur’s knee and started to drift off.

 

~END.

\-------  
The Ops trio were not really supposed to be featured in this, but they're quite the insistent little buggers.


End file.
